Object of the Week, July 19th, 2015 - Open cluster = Asterism?, NGC 6802, in Vulpecula
NGC 6802
R.A.: 19h30m35.0s
Dec.: +20°15'42" (2000)
Size: 5.0'
Mag: 11.70

My apologies for the lateness of this report, I was at a star-party all of last week and didn't return home until very early Monday morning... and then, of course, forgot all about it until today :>(

This OOTW is not glamorous, difficult, or particularly special, but it is a bit unusual. It is located in Vulpecula, directly off the eastern edge of Collinder 399, the famous Coathanger asterism, and is therefore pretty easy to find. It is small and rich, but dimmed by all the dust in the area. It is elongated north to south, and I consider it to be a dainty little cluster.

I spend a lot of time creating my 'library' documents (link in my signature). I do this instead of writing random notes about various objects that I have read about on amastro (https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/amastro/info) or on other observing discussion web pages, because keeping track of hundreds and hundreds of notes concerning hundreds and hundreds of potential targets can get out of hand rather quickly. My library is essentially my roadmap. Anyhow, a few years ago there was this thread concerning NGC 6802, and 3 guys were going back-and-forth about this little guy, having observed together previously, and all of them agreed that this cluster should be dubbed as "The DNA Strand". It is a very funny exchange, and I urge to read it... http://tinyurl.com/okhzzjd


NGC 6802.jpg

I agree with Greg, Dana and Marko in that no photo I can find of NGC 6802 looks anything like a DNA strand, but in the eyepiece I couldn't agree more... it really does!

As always, give it a go and let us know!